Bishops' vote on missal translation just one step in long process

Published: 2008-05-16

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When the U.S. bishops take up the English translation of the Roman Missal at their June 12-14 general meeting in Orlando, Fla., it won't be the first time they've looked at the project -- and it will be far from the last. The section of the missal translation under consideration this spring involves the proper prayers -- the opening collect, the prayer over the offerings and the prayer after Communion -- for Masses during Advent, Christmas, Lent and Easter as well as the Sundays of ordinary time and the solemnities and holy days of obligation. The nearly 700-page section is the second of 12 units into which the Roman Missal has been divided for translation purposes. The first unit -- the Order of Mass, involving the main constant parts of the Mass, including the penitential rite, Gloria, creed, eucharistic prayers, and other prayers and responses used daily -- was approved by the bishops in June 2006 in Los Angeles. The Committee on Divine Worship of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops plans to present several units to the bishops for approval at the bishops' general meetings in November 2008, June and November 2009 and November 2010.

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